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The moose’s long face drew my attention to its muzzle, where lips peeled back over teeth that looked ready to chew through metal. A chestnut flap of skin matching its fur swayed beneath its throat as it charged toward us.
The hairs on its hump rose. Were we on its territory? Was that why it was so angry?
Fear shackled me on the spot, and I could barely take a breath.
Leven was already in reindeer form and attacked, both animals colliding head on, the clash of their antlers reverberating through the woods. I cringed on the inside at how much that much have hurt. Leven held his ground at first, their antlers locked. But the moose drove him backward.
A shadow rose behind me.
I jerked around to find Tatum in reindeer form. Did it hurt him to transform so quick after what had happened to him? If he was in pain, he didn’t show it. He leaped and slammed a shoulder into the moose’s side, forcing it away from Leven, breaking skin. Blood sprayed the white snow.
Smacking its lips and clicking its teeth, the moose whipped its head back like a horse. It grunted, hot mist floating from its flaring nostrils.
There was movement at the corners of my eyes, and I froze. What now?
Three beavers darted out of the woods, frothing at the mouth, grumbling and barking.
“Are you freaking kidding me?” I mumbled. What’s wrong with these woods?
I searched for a weapon inside the sleigh but came up blank. Jax kicked a beaver away, but it snarled in retaliation and scrambled toward him while two others jumped on his back and dug their teeth into his neck. He cried out, ripping at their fur.
I jumped out of the sled and grabbed a stick off the ground, only to have it crumble in my hand from being so brittle. I grasped another and ran to him. I lifted my stick and swatted one creature off his back, then the other, knocking Jax in the head in the process. “Sorry.” But he’d survive.
A loud clang resonated as the moose locked in a battle with Leven and Tatum, both driven backward. How strong was that thing?
When something crashed into my thigh, I stumbled about. A beaver had attached itself to my leg. And the fucker bit down with razor-sharp teeth, tearing fabric and skin. “Get off.”
Instinct kicked in, and I drove my stick across the creature’s head, sending it flying. Jax kicked another, driving it into a tree, while he punched one with red eyes and saliva dribbling from its mouth.
Jax ran to the sleigh as I fought another critter that had lunged for me, my pulse morphing into an inferno.
He held something in his fist and rushed over to the other men, darting right in front of the moose that was shaking its head. Jax was damn fast. He blew what looked like sprinkles into the moose’s face and sprinted out of the way.
The animal snarled and seemed to stop mid-movement, locked in place.
There was another sharp bite on my calf, and I screamed. I swung around to remove the little beaver shit, just as the ground thundered once again.
I glanced up to find two more moose charging toward us from deeper in the sparse woods.
Everyone backed away, and death stared me in the face. What was going on here? Were they Krampus’ minions?
Tatum grunted something toward Jax, who looked my way, then down at his hand with the glitter he’d used on the moose. Tatum and Leven charged toward the oncoming onslaught while Jax marched toward a beaver rushing toward my feet.
I went to kick the creature just as Jax tossed his glitter. But the wind blew it into my face, and I inhaled a lungful of the cinnamon smelling powder. I choked, panic slicing me.
“Shit, I swallowed it.” I faced Jax. “What’s going to happen to me?”
“Fuck!” He grabbed something from the sleigh and leaped toward me.
Everything happened too fast. My body started to feel stiff, and a numbness rose through me. Panic curled in my chest, and I screamed, my voice clearly still working.
“I need to get you to safety,” he said. “And now.”
Jax looped a cord over and above my chest, then uner my arms, and positioned me to stand behind him. He drew me against him as he tied me to his back.
“Oh my god!” I cried, convince if I could feel anything, I might be in a corner rocking on the spot.
With me lifted off my feet, he clumsily stumbled to a nearby tree covered in low branches. He heaved me up there, gasping for air. Behind me, the sounds of clanks, expelled breaths, and cries filled the air, but I couldn’t turn to see. Were the men dying?
